Health ministry to manage Bhopal Memorial Hospital

New Delhi: The Atomic Energy Commission is disinclined to run the Bhopal Memorial Hospital saying it was not the Department of Atomic Energy`s mandate to manage such large institutions.

Following the AEC`s opinion, the management of the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC), set up to treat the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, will now be transferred to the Health Ministry.

Last year, the Union Cabinet had asked the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) to take over the day-to-day administration of the BMHRC.

The two departments had been asked to manage the hospital till an appropriate structure in the nature of an autonomous society was put in place.

The AEC, at a recent meeting, opined that managing a large hospital did not form part of the mandate of the DAE and it should ask the Cabinet Secretariat to make alternate arrangements, officials said.

Pointing out that it would face operational difficulties in running a large hospital, the AEC advised the DAE to take up the issue with the Cabinet Secretary for transfer of the administration of BMHRC to any other appropriate department.

A committee of secretaries set up to discuss the matter recommended that the administration of BMHRC be transferred to the Department of Health Research of the Health Ministry, officials said.